The unrestricted flow of electricity from Russia to Abkhazia will cease on February 5, leading the republic to implement daily 12-hour power cuts, as announced during a special meeting by Vice-President of Abkhazia, Badra Gumba.
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Transport, Dzhansukh Nanba, clarified that these enforced power cuts result from several factors:
“These include low fees for electricity consumed by the population, a critically low water level in the Jvar reservoir of Ingur HPP, scheduled repair of the 4th power unit at the Rostov NPP, and emergency shutdowns of generating equipment in the South of Russia, from where Abkhazia receives additional electricity.”
In one way or another, Russia will no longer provide free electricity to Abkhazia, and the republic lacks the funds for paid electricity. The authorities of the republic have not disclosed their strategy for addressing the situation, aside from implementing 12-hour power cuts.
President of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, was not present at the meeting, as he had been on a business trip in Moscow for the entire previous week, attempting to resolve the issue of free power supply. However, it seems that he was unsuccessful.
Until now, the provision of free Russian electricity has allowed Abkhazia to offset the energy deficit, which arose, among other things, due to the illicit mining of cryptocurrency.
